Hollywood recruited to build US super-soldiers

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Iron Man 2. In February, President Obama said: “We are building Iron Man"Marvel

Rhys BlakelyLos Angeles

Published at 12:01AM, July 12 2014

In the Iron Man films, Robert Downey Jr moonlights as a superhero with the help of a high-tech power-suit. Now, the US military is asking Hollywood to help it develop a similarly advanced piece of kit for the real battlefield.

The head of the US Special Operations Command, Admiral William McRaven, has commissioned research that he hopes will lead to a kind of exoskeleton giving his men superhuman strength, better protection from bullets, and access to online information and their own vital signs in the thick of battle.

Those working on the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or Talos, project